Foxborough, Mass. -- The scandal comparison between the New England Patriots' Spygate and the New Orleans Saints' Bountygate wasn't an overriding topic of conversation with the teams during media sessions this week. It was brought up briefly, though.

Michael DeMocker / The TNew Orleans Saints tight end David Thomas (85) catches a touchdown in front of New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and defensive back Patrick Chung (25) during practice between the New Orleans Saints and New England Patriots on the practice fields of Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts on Wednesday, August 8, 2012.

The Patriots overcame their scandal by going 16-0 in the 2007 regular season and making it to Super Bowl XLII. That being said, the Patriots didn't lose multiple players and coaches to suspensions as a result.

Interim coach Joe Vitt said emulating the Patriots in any fashion would be a smart idea.

"Let me just say this, No. 1 - I made this statement (Monday) and Sean (Payton) has made this statement - that this franchise that we're going against is the Microsoft of our industry with what they've done. Number two - in my era as a coach, Bill Belichick is the coach of my era. He's the Don Shula, the Bill Walsh of my era. So they've had some adversity and have done a great job of handling it. I've had conversations with Bill. We know that our players are strong. We've been through adversity before, but there's really no comparisons as you're getting out to these practices. We're trying to get better, both teams every day."

Drew Brees added: "They played well that year. They went out and almost won every game and obviously we hope we can put together the same type of result. Certainly it's something we can look at where maybe this is something similar we are going through. You try to take a negative and turn it into a positive."